27th Asian Basketball Championship: India placed in Group D alongside Kazakhstan and Bahrain

The Indian men’s basketball team has been placed in Group D for the upcoming 27^th FIBA Asian basketball championship slated to be held in Manila, Philippines from August 1 to 11.

The Indian cagers – ranked 58^th in the world – are placed in a group where they stand a decent chance of qualifying for the second round and beyond.

India are placed alongside 47^th ranked Kazakhstan and 75^th ranked Bahrain, with one more team joining them from the 10^th SEABA Championship which will be held later this month.

The national team, under new American coach Scott Flemmig, qualified for the 27^th FIBA Asian basketball championship in emphatic fashion after winning both their league games against Afghanistan and Nepal to seal the lone qualifying spot from the South Asian region.

The Indian hoopsters got the better of Afghanistan 64-46 after earlier drubbing Nepal 109-26 in their first league match.

India had lost to Indonesia to finish 14^th among sixteen teams at the 2011 edition.

They were pitted in Group B alongside Korea, Lebanon and Malaysia. India had lost narrowly to Lebanon (68-71) and Malaysia (67-71) but came up short against Korea 53-84.

Defending champions and world number 11 China are placed in Group C alongside equally formidable and 20^th ranked Iran, 33^rd ranked South Korea and one more team joining them from the 10^th SEABA Championship.

2007 runners-up and world number 23 Lebanon are pitted in Group B alongside 35^th ranked Japan, 36^th ranked Qatar and Hong Kong.

Last year’s runners-up Jordan – ranked 30^th in the world – are placed in Group A alongside 42^nd ranked Chinese Taipei, 45^th ranked Philippines and 69^th ranked Saudi Arabia.

Philippines, by virtue of being the host nation, were given the option to choose in which group they wanted to play and they opted for Group A.

The top three teams from all the four groups comprising four teams each will make it to the second round. Twelve teams are divided into two groups, comprising six teams each. Four tops teams from each group will make it to the quarterfinals.

The FIBA Asian basketball championship is held every two years and the inaugural edition was staged at Manila in 1960 when the host country Philippines cornered glory.

China won the last edition (2011) by beating Jordan by the skin of their teeth (70-69), while Iran won both the 2007 and 2009 putting it across Lebanon and China respectively.

China have dominated the Asian basketball championship, having won it a whopping 15 times. What’s more, they have won the championship crown on four consecutive occasions twice – first from 1975 to 1981 and second from 1987 to 1993.

Philippines have won the tile five times, while Japan, South Korea and Iran have laid their hands on the championship trophy on two occasions respectively.

South Korea have finished runners-up on 15 occasions.